


A Rabbit in Central Park

by Bastet5



Series: The Wild Hunt [9]
Category: Blue Bloods (TV), FBI: Most Wanted (TV 2020)
Genre: Central Park, Chance Meetings, Ficlet, Gen, Spring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24773137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bastet5/pseuds/Bastet5
Summary: April 2018An afternoon in Central Park admiring the scenery and relaxing after hours of paperwork turns into a chance adventure with a rabbit running from the police.In other words, not all of Kateri's meetings with the NYPD end up going bad.
Series: The Wild Hunt [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678864
Comments: 13
Kudos: 5





	A Rabbit in Central Park

**Author's Note:**

> This plot-bunny occurred to me recently while I should have been sleeping, and it turned into this ficlet. The next side-stories will be longer.

The beauty of Central Park in spring made it worth the trouble of coming down from the Bronx to Manhattan on one of her day’s off and made it worth braving the crowds of all the people who had the exact same idea as Kateri did. Between the Central Park Zoo, a waterfall, the JKO Reservoir, a lake with boats, miles upon miles of trails and hiking paths, and countless types of animals, bird, flowers, trees, shrubs, etc. to see, there was no end of things to do or see in Central Park. Every time Kateri came, it seemed a little different, and that was part of the fun.

(If you liked history, there was also a very, very, extremely old obelisk from Egypt!)

Kateri liked wandering through Central Park because it reminded her of being back in Canada on/near the Reservation. Though she was not fond of or comfortable with simply wandering in the woods—despite her partner’s best efforts—hiking trails, she liked, and seeing the flowers and the birds—especially the hawks—and getting away from the people and the concrete jungle was always a nice respite from life and work.

It was a pleasant Thursday afternoon in mid-April when Kateri came to Central Park that day. The team had returned from a case Tuesday night, and they had just finished the bane of their existence that was paperwork that morning. After lunch, Kateri had decided to go to Central Park, instead of returning to her apartment in the Bronx, because after sitting for hours inside doing paperwork, walking around and not being inside for a few hours sounded nice. _Maybe the break’ll also give me some inspiration and motivation to go do whatever needs to be done next._

Kateri had been nursing a soda for over an hour, sitting in the shade of a large flowering dogwood tree while people watching and looking out over the lake. _This is sooo much nicer than doing paper work, and it’s not too warm either._

 _I’m going to feel sorry for myself when I have to move and go back to HQ to get my car to go home_. Kateri had taken the train up to Central Park to avoid the troubles of finding parking in the near vicinity of the park. After a long case and a long morning doing paperwork, Kateri was not feeling that motivated to do much of anything.

A crowd drifted through, and then the area around her spot quieted slowly, save for the splashing of several rowdy, trouble-making geese down in the water. _Lunch, if there weren’t people around and the gun laws were different._

_Wonder what goose tastes like …_

A few minutes later, sudden shouts broke the quietness of the afternoon, and Kateri was bolting to her feet instinctively, one hand going to her gun underneath her light jacket, before the actual words of those shouts—“Stop! Police!”—fully registered in her brain.

 _So much for my quiet afternoon_.

A tall, lanky Caucasian male in the kind of clothing that looked most appropriate to a skate park was bolting down a path that would take him straight past Kateri and down the hill to the lake. About thirty to forty yards back up the trail, two plain-clothes cops— _probably detectives actually, considering the business clothing. Could be plain clothes, I guess_ —were in hot pursuit, but their long-legged rabbit had quite a lead on them, and the distance between the tree was not closing.

 _They’re not catching up_.

“Stop! Police!"

_So much for my quiet afternoon._

“NYPD! STOP!!!!”

_Oh, bloody h**l. Not going to watch a rabbit escape when I can do something about it._

Kateri broke into a run on a perpendicular intercept course to the course the perp was taking. The rabbit either did not see her coming or expected that she would simply just get out of his way rather than risk being bowled over and, thus, did not react to her presence. Having her presence either not seen or disregarded worked quite well to Kateri’s advantage.

In a move that was more appropriate to Kenny’s sheer bulk than her smaller frame, Kateri tackled the rabbit, bowling him over and knocking him to the ground in a whoosh of breath that knocked the wind out of him. Before the perp had gotten his breath back or could even start struggling, Kateri had him pinned to the grass with a knee in his back and was cuffing his hands with the cuffs she always carried with her.

The downed perp was just starting to struggle when the two detectives/cops ran up with guns drawn. Seeing the sight of the guns pointed at him, Mr. Jackrabbit decided discretion was the better part of valor and that stupidity was not a virtue either and immediately settled down.

_Don’t do stupid. Good life advice._

Kateri locked eyes with the two newcomer-cops, who seemed surprised to see their rabbit on the ground, just as surprised to see Kateri keeping him pinned down, and the two starred at her in abject surprise for a few seconds.

 _These two are an interesting pair._ Kateri mused to herself for a moment. One male, one female. One Caucasian, one Hispanic. One a little older— _if his receding hairline is any clue_ —and one a little younger. One bigger and stockier— _football player-ish build_ —and the lady a little more finely built.

“Who the h**l are you?” The man burst out after a split second of just starring at Kateri. His voice was low and gruff, his face a mixture of puzzlement and wariness.

“Kateri Wood, FBI,” Kateri replied, using one elbow to push back her jacket enough to reveal her badge clipped to belt, while she kept her hands still visible on the perp’s back, though she had eased her weight off of him as soon as she had him cuffed.

Both cops’ faces went puzzled, but they moved to fully cover the perp, giving Kateri room to climb to her feet.

“What the h**l does the FBI want with our perp?” The man asked.

Glancing around automatically to check how much attention the scene had drawn— _very little,_ _thankfully. Not too many people here right now. Convenient_ —Kateri dusted herself off— _yay, no grass stains, or none visible, at least. Check later to be sure_ —and moved back to give the female cop room to drag the perp to his feet.

“Nothing, as far as I know. Don’t know him from Adam,” Kateri replied, “Just saw your Jackrabbit here, and since it’s such a nice day, I’d thought I’d save you some running.”

_Not gonna mention that I wasn’t sure you’d actually catch him!_

The detective/cop’s face cleared. “Thanks for the assist. I’m Danny Reagan. That’s Baez.”

 _Ah, NYPD then. The Reagan name gives it away_. Most everyone in law enforcement in New York City knew about the NYPD and the Reagan clan. Kateri had never met any of them before, preferring to usually avoid the NYPD and the trouble or turf wars that came with some interactions, but had heard about them plenty.

_Heard plenty of stories about this Reagan. Not all of ‘em are good._

“Pleasure,” Kateri gave a polite smile and fell into step beside him as Baez started marching the perp away, probably back toward the two detectives’ waiting car … somewhere, “If I could get my cuffs back, I’d appreciate it.”

“When we get to the car,” Baez called back, her words colored by a slight accent. Considering her name and skin coloring, she was probably Hispanic.

Reagan and Kateri exchanged polite chit-chat on the way back to the two detectives’ car, which was parked along Central Park West near 72nd Street. _Convenient. I would have been heading this way anyway_. She needed to catch a train on the 2-line to get back to HQ to get her car so she could go home. _Not going back to the days where I took the bloody bus everywhere. So bloody slow to do anything._

“Where are you headed?” Reagan asked, once Kateri’s cuffs had been returned to her and the perp was safely ensconced with Baez in the back of the car.

“Broadway and 72nd just up the street,” Kateri replied, “Gotta go back to Federal Plaza to get my car.”

“We can give you a ride,” Reagan replied, motioning her towards the passenger side door, “Least we can do after your help. What are you doing down here anyway? Lunch break?”

“More like sanity break,” Kateri answered with a snort of laughter, once they were both inside the car, “Spent the whole morning finishing paperwork for my last case. Needed a break before I went a little mad.”

There was a snort of wry amusement from Reagan. From the look on his face, he had similar opinions of paperwork.

 _Do anyyyy cops like paperwork?_ Kateri mused to herself. _Probably not, or at least very few, and if you actually like paperwork, I must question your sanity._

Kateri was dropped off outside the train station, and she parted ways with thanks from the two NYPD detectives. _Made for an interesting addition to my afternoon, and a story to tell the others later._

_And I didn’t get arrested this time either!_

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 of FBI: MW 1x05 -- Invisible coming on Friday.


End file.
